This application is also related to commonly assigned U.S. patent applications being filed concurrently herewith and titled Apparatus and Method for Welding Aluminum Tubes (PW Matter No. 280427) and Welding Material and Method Without Carrier (PW Matter No. 280426), the entire contents of each being incorporated herein by reference thereto.
The present invention is generally related to welding and an illustrated embodiment of the present invention is related to welding tubular members.
Welding operations are used in many industrial applications, such as vehicle construction on vehicle assembly lines. To form certain welded connection, a desired amount of the welding material must be placed between the surfaces of the weldable members where the joint is to be formed and then heated. This type of joint is difficult to form when the weldable members are tubular in form because it becomes difficult to directly access the surfaces to be welded.
Tubular hydroforming technology is increasingly being used in industry, particularly in the automotive industry. Hydroforming technology offers many advantages for automobile frame construction, but the use of common welding methods for welding tubular components is difficult and can result in time and cost inefficiencies.
One object of the present invention is to provide a welding material assembly for positioning a welding material in electrically conductive relation between exterior surface portions of first and second weldable members at a location where the first and second weldable members are to be joined, the welding material assembly comprising: at least one welding material member mounted on a flexible carrier sheet in a predetermined arrangement, each welding material member being constructed of an electrically conductive metallic welding material capable of melting when heated by application of an electrical current, the carrier sheet being constructed of a material that is electrically conductive and each welding material member being mounted on the sheet such that when the sheet is placed between the exterior surfaces of the first and second weldable members to be welded each welding material member and the sheet are electrically conductively disposed between the first and second weldable members.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a welding material assembly for positioning a welding material in electrically conductive relation between exterior surface portions of first and second weldable members at a location where the first and second weldable members are to be joined, the welding material assembly comprising: a flexible carrier sheet; and a plurality of welding material members mounted on the sheet in a predetermined arrangement, each of the plurality of welding material members being constructed of an electrically conductive metallic welding material capable of melting when heated by application of an electrical current, and each of the plurality of welding material members being mounted on the sheet such that when the sheet is placed between the exterior surfaces of the first and second weldable members to be welded each of the plurality of welding material members is electrically conductively disposed between the first and second weldable members.
Another object of the invention is to provide a rolled welding material strip assembly, comprising: a plurality of welding material assemblies, each of the plurality of welding material assemblies being constructed and arranged to position welding material in electrically conductive relation between exterior surface portions of first and second weldable members at a location where the first and second weldable members are to be joined together, each of the plurality of welding material assemblies comprising at least one welding material member mounted on a flexible carrier sheet, each of the at least one welding material member being constructed of an electrically conductive metallic welding material capable of melting when heated by application of an electrical current and being mounted on the sheet such that when the sheet is placed between the exterior surfaces of the first and second weldable members to be welded, each of the at least one welding material members is electrically conductively disposed between the first and second weldable members, each of the plurality of welding material assemblies being removably secured to one another.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of welding tubular members, comprising: providing first and second tubular members, each of the first and second tubular members having a respective exterior surface; providing at least one welding material member carried in a predetermined arrangement by a flexible carrier sheet, each of the at least one welding material members being constructed of an electrically conductive metallic welding material capable of bonding in weld-forming relation with the first and second tubular members; positioning the carrier sheet between the first and second tubular members so that each of the at least one welding material member is disposed in current transmitting relation between the respective exterior surfaces of the first and second tubular members; and applying an electrical current across the first and second tubular members such that the applied current flows through the respective exterior surfaces of the first and second tubular members and each of the at least one welding material members disposed between the first and second tubular members to weld the respective exterior surfaces of the first and second tubular members together.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.